Well, like most people with access to new cards at short notice, I sleeved up Death's Shadow Jund for the recent SCG Open in Indianapolis. Unlike most of them, though, I drove nearly ten hours solo each way in order to compete. What can I say? I had the itch. I wanted a chance to play with a deck many of my peers had deemed “broken” before the rest of the world fully caught on. After playing a few MTGO Leagues to the tune of several 4-1 or 3-2 finishes with Bant Eldrazi (losing mostly to Death's Shadow and beating everything else), I went 9-1 in two Leagues with the menace itself. I couldn’t realistically put down Death's Shadow after that, and gladly committed to playing the interesting and powerful deck in the Open.

My list was fairly stock, except for the absence of Temur Battle Rage and the inclusion of a couple Abrupt Decays for the mirror match and errant Rest in Peaces. A few bad breaks left me on the outside looking in when it came to Day Two, so I tinkered with the deck a bit and ran it back for the Classic on the second day. Fortunately, my bad performances at both tournaments result in a series of important findings for the rest of you with regard to the best way to build Death's Shadow. Without further ado, here are the keys to building the best Death's Shadow deck:

1: Liliana of the Veil > Liliana, the Last Hope

As much as I love the techy new Liliana, this is a deck that thrives in low-resource games, where neither player has cards in hand or many creatures on the battlefield. When you have one Tarmogoyf and three lands to your opponent’s Thought-Knot Seer and three lands, you’re ahead. When each player has four creatures and five lands, you’re probably falling behind. The Last Hope is great at grinding out more battlefield presence for you, but the Veil is better against the big-mana decks, the combo decks that need a threshold of material to assemble their win, and any number of less-common decks (Bogles, Merfolk, etc.)

Additionally, you have lots of ways to kill little creatures, but no way to kill a Reality Smasher, Gurmag Angler, or Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Liliana of the Veil is so key against the big Eldrazi (while being pretty good in the mirror match) that you simply must play it as a two-of or even a three-of in the maindeck.

2: Big Game Hunter or Intrepid Hero are nice in the sideboard as tutor targets against the mirror or Bant Eldrazi

I’d always have access to one, because again, you’re best suited for killing small creatures with no effective way of dealing with cards like the aforementioned Delve threats or big Eldrazi. Hero is better against Bant and Hunter is better against the mirror and Delver decks, so it’s up to you.

3: You want some number of Abrupt Decays (or even a Maelstrom Pulse) to clean up Rest in Peace and other random hate permanents

Kolaghan's Command is nice against opposing artifacts, but Bant Eldrazi can and will have Worship, Rest in Peace and other annoying enchantments to try to keep you locked out of most of your deck. Be ready to battle those. Pulse is nice as a catch-all against, again, threats like Gurmag Angler or Tasigur while also torching Worship, Leyline of Sanctity, Planeswalkers, and the like.

4: No Temur Battle Rages, and only 2 Kolaghan's Commands

K-Command is surprisingly underwhelming in the mirror match, as Raven's Crime + Raise Dead is not a super-efficient combination. I’d certainly keep in two, but Liliana of the Veil needs her space in the deck, Abrupt Decay can cover some of the “answering random Chalice of the Void” space that you need, and the Affinity matchup is already pretty decent.

As for Temur Battle Rage, you can play a Ghor-Clan Rampager for mostly the same effect, only occupy one slot in the main deck, and still have access to it most of the time you’d need it. Temur Battle Rage is nice, but it opens you up to a lot of blowouts, and you’ll most often end up discarding it to your own Liliana.

5: Stony Silence in the board is pretty nice

This card covers Tron well, while being better against Affinity than Ancient Grudge, most times. You already have a high density of removal in your deck, so Ancient Grudge is less special than Stony Silence. The enchantment, nicely enough, does good work against Ad Nauseam, Lantern, and Cheerios as well! The anti-synergy with your own Mishra's Baubles is small, because you’ll most often be breaking your Baubles on the first turn, ahead of any Stony Silences.

All those findings mean that my decklist going forward looks something like:

Death?s Shadow ?Modern | Ben Friedman

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 1 Ranger of Eos
• 4 Death's Shadow
• 4 Street Wraith
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (9)
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Kolaghan's Command
• 2 Tarfire
• 3 Fatal Push

• Sorceries (12)
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Mishra's Bauble

• Lands (18)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Wooded Foothills
• 3 Polluted Delta
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 3 Fulminator Mage
• 3 Lingering Souls
• 1 Collective Brutality

Buy This Deck

But let’s say you don’t want to be the boogeyman of the format. Let’s say you want to hold up the banners for truth, justice, and hate cards. Well, there’s one deck in the format that stands tall and proud against Death's Shadow, and it’s good old reliable Bant Eldrazi. When the Eldrazi are the heroes of your story, it means something is very, very wrong, but saviors come in all shapes, sizes, and colors (or lack of color, as the case may be).

You start with four sideboard Rest in Peace. That’s a lock, as it’s great against Grixis Control, Death's Shadow, and Dredge. You continue with Worship, a card that most Death's Shadow decks can’t beat without exactly Collective Brutality (which is a pretty bad card against Bant Eldrazi outside of that one specific scenario). Tons of Engineered Explosives in your maindeck are mandatory. Add the classic Bant Eldrazi cards, and see what happens!

Here is haterator Bant, an Eldrazi deck designed to fight Death's Shadow efficiently, with all the best cards I could come up with:

Bant Eldrazi ? Modern | Ben Friedman

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Drowner of Hope
• 4 Eldrazi Displacer
• 4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Reality Smasher
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer

• Instants (4)
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Ancient Stirrings

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Engineered Explosives

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Yavimaya Coast
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Brushland
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Rest in Peace
• 2 Worship
• 3 Stony Silence
• 2 Stubborn Denial
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Grafdigger's Cage

Buy This Deck

If you prefer Matter Reshaper to Eldrazi Skyspawner, that is your prerogative, but be warned that there is dis-synergy with Rest in Peace. Skyspawner is a little weaker now that Infect has fallen from its prime position in the format, and Reshaper is better at being a midrange body to keep pace with Death's Shadow and the various B/G/x decks of the format. If you do choose to play Reshaper over Skyspawner, you can probably turn that extra basic land (which is an Island here, in order to hedge slightly against the Blood Moon decks) into a second Forest. Three Reshapers and an Eternal Witness would be fine over the Skyspawner slot, but definitely board out the Witness whenever you board in Rest in Peace!

The Gavony Township has impressed me more than the Ghost Quarter, but the final decision is up to you. Township is a great mana sink when you lack an Eldrazi Displacer, especially in concert with Skyspawner. Turning your random Scions and 2/1 flyers into real threats is a big deal, and getting your Smashers big enough to crash over enemy Tarmogoyfs, Tasigurs, or Gurmag Anglers is very important in the Jund, Abzan, and Grixis matchups.

Now, let’s say you’re planning on attending an upcoming Grand Prix, perhaps one in the great state of Texas, in . . . hmm, I don’t know, a month’s time. You’re looking at these decklists, and you’re thrilled to see that they are mostly compatible (with the exception of Stony Silence in the Death's Shadow deck, which can be replaced if needed.)

You have two teammates for this team event, and you’re looking for a third deck to stand up to the strong, flexible Death's Shadow and Bant Eldrazi decks. What to do?

Well, fortunately there are three great options here for you.

Whether you go with the White Affinity list or a more normal Galvanic Blast-based Affinity deck, you stand to win big with the robot army.

If you’re not interested in piloting the intricate artifact deck, you could do a lot worse than playing Burn. Burn is straightforward, and it doesn’t conflict with either of the other two decks (just make sure to steer clear of Wooded Foothills when making your mana base, and no Path to Exile in the sideboard!)

Burn has a decent matchup against Death's Shadow, depending on how many Collective Brutalities are in the list, and it can beat Bant Eldrazi, although I wouldn’t classify it as a “good” matchup. The deck does the same thing every game, and that thing is usually good enough. Nothing wrong with that!

Whatever you choose, make sure you have a coherent plan against the biggest threats of the format. The decks are lean and mean, but there are ways to gain an edge. Let me know if I’m missing any of them, and next week I’ll be back with a lead-in to GP New Jersey after the results from my upcoming MTGO RPTQ. Hopefully Mardu Vehicles, B/G Constrictor, and Four-Color Saheeli relinquish some of their stranglehold on the format, but if not, I’ll be ready!